LUCKNOW: The state government’s flagship One District-One Sport (ODOS) scheme has picked up speed with the sports department declaring the list of sports which will be promoted across various districts. In the current list, 57 districts have been taken up and divided across 13 sports with 24 districts alone being covered under athletics.
Additional chief secretary (sports) Navneet Sehgal said that with the formalisation of sports for each district, the department has also started work of appointing coaches.

“The scheme was started by chief minister Yogi Adityanath in line with the one district-one product scheme through which the state promotes local items for each of the 75 districts through special incentives, workshops, packaging and marketing. There is a universal rule to nurture sporting talents, which is to catch them young. The department will ensure identification of talent at the right age and provide them with the best training possible at the district, state and national level to enhance their performances,” he said.

Hockey has been identified as the main sport for 11 districts including Lucknow, while wrestling is ODOS for seven districts, including Yogi’s home district of Gorakhpur and PM’s Lok Sabha constituency of Varanasi.
A government spokesperson said that Deoria, Maharajganj, Azamgarh, Chandauli, Varanasi and Gorakhpur had a golden history in wrestling with many wrestlers from here having won in national and international championships. “Many wrestling akhadas are active in these districts. Under the patronage of CM Yogi, a big wrestling event has been taking place in the Gorakhnath temple on Nag Panchami. Baghpat has been allotted wrestling as its ODOS,” the official said.